When we did the Machu Picchu tre 13 yr ago our guide was telling us that
the Shining Path were still somewhat active in the mountains but that
the Inca trail we were on was fairly safe. Some years prior the traffic
had dropped considerably as they were around. I guess that was
comforting though being way back in the mountains not too close to
"civilization" was somewhat concerning in that regard. We went at that
time to Puerto Maldonado in the forest, headwaters of the Amazon, and it
was the Wild West out there. They have a road built out there now so it
has become somewhat more "civilized" for what that is worth, but our
guide this time was saying there are some SPs still running around out
there too but they are not much of a factor.
The election is still undecided, this morning the gap was 50k votes out
of millions, they are counting absentees. Both candidates seem like
they would be somewhat similar, though the Fujimori woman has been much
more visible out in the countryside, visiting little towns and people
all over so she is something of a populist. PPK is a bit more of an
elite, but a smart guy, both have US educations and are pretty smart. I
hope it works out for them, they seem to be on the right path.
--R
On 6/7/16 8:17 AM, Dan Penoff via Mercedes wrote:
Peru is not such a bad place relative to other SA countries. The elder Fujimori, while
not the most up front "president" was definitely better than your average SA
dictator/despot.
He did a lot for social causes and really went after the Shining Path (Maoist
rebels) that terrorized the rural areas. I got to meet him once when a
business associate I traveled SA with regularly arranged the donation of some
medical equipment to a rural hospital. We attended a state dinner where the
President honored a bunch of people who supported local charities. My buddy
was a Peruaño and did a lot of logistical work for some charities in Milwaukee
who supported rural medical care in Peru.
Peru has a large number of Asians, much like Panama does. Not sure why, but the
Asian community there was pretty significant from what I saw. In big cities
like Lima it was pretty safe for Anglos, but if you got out into the rural
areas you had a target on your back. The locals had no problems and were
actually pretty cool (indigenous folks with the cool bowler hats and serapés)
and neat to hang with, but the Shining Path guys were totally psycho and would
kill foreigners without so much as a by your leave. As a result it wasn't a
good idea to go wandering around the countryside unless you were with a local.
The State Department pretty much said you were on your own if you left the city.
Peru was a cool place to visit, and I always enjoyed my trips there. It helped
that my buddy was a local, as he was able to navigate for us and knew his way
around. I'm not sure I would feel safe going there as a tourista.
Dan
Sent from my iPad
On Jun 6, 2016, at 5:52 PM, Joel Cairo via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
wrote:
I asked my niece that question in reference to SA countries, but Mexico is
similar enough. She was the resident expert on certain political and economic
matters in a certain SA country for A Government Agency, so was probably as
knowledgeable about such things as anyone could be. She has a degree from
Georgetown in International Relations, and a fair amount of training. She has
briefed presidents directly/personally on these matters.
She thought about it a bit and attributed it to the effects of colonialism, in
that the ruling classes of most LA countries are the descendants of the
yurpeens, the Spanish specifically, and mostly white/mestizo not native and
their attitudes towards the indigenos is not wildly different from colonial
times 500 years ago. That sorta made sense -- they have their status and
wealth and really don't care that much about the rest. In places where
indigenos do get elected (I think Hugo in Venezuela and the guy in Bolivia?)
they tend to go overboard the other way with the predictable results -- it gets
even worse.
Interestingly, we were just in Peru and the electioneering was going big time
for the election yesterday. They started out with something like 30
candidates, it got winnowed down to 2, Fujimori and Kuczinski (sp?), both
right-center candidates and obviously neither has an indigeno name, not even a
Spanish name. I'm still not sure which got elected as last I heard it was
50.5-49.5 for K. In any case, Peru has been fairly right of center, and their
economy has been going pretty well, and from what I saw it did not have the
really bad poverty you see in Mexico and some other countries, though most
people would not be wealthy by any means. The Fujimori candidate is the
daughter of a former president, now in prison, who went a bit too far after
eradicating the communist Shining Path uprising, which people are still
grateful for though a few remain back in the mountains and in the forests
causing trouble.
Some countries are starting to get their acts organized though Argentina keeps
regressing every 10-15yr or so. Chile is doing well, as I think is Colombia,
mostly, after the bad times with the drug trade. Brazil is starting to slow
down after some good growth. Costa Rica and Panama are doing pretty well.
Ecuador could but their idiot presidente keeps trying to screw things up with
socialismo to appeal to the lower classes. It seems that the ones doing well
adopt some US-style reforms and the leaders take some interest in the general
welfare and actually
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